The first operation went relatively smoothly; box after box of Titanium Chrome Ore was packed up, waiting for Fatty Fish to take them all away at the end.
As for the mining equipment, it would be disassembled a bit and then dragged back to Fatty Fish.
At this point, Qianlong felt extremely tired, and Jones didn't have much energy left to tease him.
From high above, one could see a deep pit that had been dug out in this area.
It was already the twentieth day of operations, and over a hundred boxes of Titanium Chrome Ore had been mined.
If nothing unexpected happened, it was basically nearing its end.
At this moment, Fatty Fish began to slowly descend from the sky, stopping its descent when it was still fifty meters above the ground.
The cargo bay at the rear opened, and Aina and the others began to carry the packed metal boxes for loading.
After three busy hours, the mined materials and mining equipment were all recovered, and Aina and the others successfully boarded Fatty Fish. In a sense, their first mission was considered complete.
Fatty Fish flew towards the other two recovery points.
After getting off the Harvester, Qianlong was a bit surprised to see Aina standing aside operating a virtual screen, with the latest images displayed.
Below were the other teams' mining locations, and it seemed the quantity mined was a bit low.
Phantom directly provided the specific number through the imagery: 82 boxes.
It seemed he had indeed benefited from their efforts, Qianlong calculated a bit.
"Warning, Bollock Biological Reaction detected (Note: Zerg unique energy reaction)," Phantom suddenly issued a piercing alert.
Qianlong had just reacted when he saw the Harvester below waving at Fatty Fish, suddenly a section of the ground collapsed.
In the command room of Fatty Fish, Demiken stood up from his seat.
Then he roared.
"Fatty Fish Team 3, Fatty Fish Team 5, retreat immediately."
"Guardian, provide immediate support."
The Harvester that had been waving, upon hearing Demiken's voice, instantly reacted.
They all activated their rear jet devices and took off.
A violent rumble shook the ground; two Harvester were ensnared by a long metallic tail, no matter how hard they accelerated and struggled, it was useless.
Among the fleeing Harvesters, one turned around, opened its cannon, and fired wildly at the metallic tail.
"Baidun, what are you doing? Return immediately, that's an order," Demiken shouted in shock and anger.
An anxious voice came back, "I can't abandon them."
As soon as the words fell, a metallic tail shot up from the ground, and Baidun's Harvester was caught without time to dodge.
At this moment, three Guardians descended from the sky and began to attack the suddenly appearing monster.
Laser guns fired one after another at the metallic tail, splattering bright white light.
"Is it ineffective?" Demiken's face darkened.
One of the Guardians, seeing it was ineffective, pulled out a portable cannon from its back and set it up.
"Penetrator Shell."
A cylindrical shell was fired down.
With a loud bang, the entire ground sank, forming a deep pit.
The metallic tail that had ensnared one Harvester loosened, and that Harvester immediately flew upwards desperately, not looking back, completely ignoring whether its two companions had escaped, clearly frightened.
"Don't be afraid, we'll come to rescue you soon," the Guardians tried to reassure the remaining two Harvesters.
The three Guardians formed a triangular formation and slowly closed in.
At this moment, Qianlong felt a strong sense of urgency just from watching the imagery.
"Data matching."
"Type II Elite Thorn Hothan Tail (Zerg)."
"Was it killed?"
"Bollock Biological Reaction still detected, target not dead."
Sure enough, as the Guardians got closer, five metallic tails suddenly burst from the ground, attacking the three Guardians.
The three Guardians were startled and quickly ascended to evade.
The Guardian flying in the front hadn't had time to dodge when its left foot was ensnared by a metallic tail.
"Crap, I'm caught!"
The other two Guardians kept dodging the attacks of the metallic tails, unable to break free for a moment.
"Don't!" a terrified voice suddenly came through.
It was from a Harvester that had been ensnared, likely connected to Fatty Fish's communications.
"Help me, I don't want to die."
Then a loud crashing sound and vibrations could be heard.
The metallic tail that had ensnared him began to stab into the thick cockpit of the Harvester.
The entire chest armor started to cave in.
"Don't!" The driver was becoming increasingly panicked, their mental state seeming very unstable.
"Open the cockpit, open it for me, why won't you open it!"
In the end, the driver's voice became nearly hysterical as they desperately pounded on the control room.
The sharp metallic tail slowly extended backward, then quickly pierced through the caved-in metal plate.
"Ah!"
A desperate scream, exceptionally clear.
The personnel inside Fatty Fish all lowered their heads, followed by the sound of retching.
Although the imagery was cut off by Demiken, the sounds still came through.
Many female soldiers covered their mouths and turned their heads away.
At this moment, a voice came through, it was Baidun's.
"Demiken Captain, I'll leave it to you from now on."
As soon as the words fell, Baidun was directly dragged down, pulled into the deep pit, disappearing from sight.
On the other side, the two Guardians exchanged glances, seeing that the Harvester had died, they began to unleash their explosive rounds.
The explosions continued, and the ensnared Guardian took the opportunity to forcibly break free from the metallic tail.
"Retreat," the Guardian said.
Demiken took a deep breath and said, "Fatty Fish ascend, increase flight altitude."
"Yes."
"Pick up the escaping Harvesters." Demiken issued a command.
Quake spoke up, "There are still two teams that haven't been recovered, what should we do?"
Demiken pondered for a few seconds and said, "It's too close, order them to abandon the mined resources and return immediately."
"Captain, this?"
The personnel in the command room hesitated, knowing that if they really did this, the losses would be significant.
"Execute the captain's orders," Quake repeated.
"Yes."
Soon, the remaining Harvesters returned to Fatty Fish as scheduled.
Zhan Gai and others got off from the mecha, Zhan Gai's face was ashen, glancing at Aina with a look of resentment. Fatty Fish's first contact was Aina, which made him very concerned, knowing that nearly a month of hard work had gone to waste.
If it were usual, Jones would definitely be in a good mood to mock a few words, but now he had no interest at all.
A total of 24 Harvesters set out, and only 13 returned this time, the death rate was already approaching half. Although the other three teams were missing, with no response for so long, it could basically be judged as dead.
(End of Chapter)